Lost and Alone
by Call-Me-KrazyPerson
Summary: Tristan comes across Ryo Bakura and notices that something just isn't right about him. He finds that he hasn't eaten in three days and is very out of it….what could possibly be wrong?
1. Part 1

Tristan was out taking his dog, Blankey, on a walk. He hadn't really felt like taking her on one, but once he mentioned the word "walk," she had started barking happily and licking him. So he finally took her on a walk. Now that he was out here, he was glad that he had gone.

Earlier he had had a headache from trying to figure out his math homework and getting out in the fresh air was doing him good. He started to hum a little tune and Blankey's ears pricked up. They were about to round a corner when Blankey stopped, listening.

"What is it, girl? You hear something?" Tristan asked. It was probably just a cat or something that she wanted to chase.

Then he heard it too; voices, right around the corner. "Give us all your money, little brat, now," the voice of a gruff sounding man said.

"B-but I don't have any on me right now," a much softer voice said.

"Hey, Hiroku, think he's lying?" another man's voice said.

Tristan cautiously peeked around the corner, holding Blankey back so she wouldn't be seen. Two men had a white-haired boy in the blue uniform of Domino High School backed up against a wall, robbing him. Tristan recognized him as Ryo Bakura, a boy who had recently transferred to his school and now was a member of his little "gang" of friends with Yugi, Joey, and Téa. He was pretty quiet and shy, with a face that could have him mistaken as a girl. Tristan didn't know him well but still thought of his as a friend.

"Hey, Dave, you think this really is a boy? Kinda looked like a flat-chested girl." Hiroku took Bakura's chin in his hand, turning his face from side to side. Bakura backed up into the wall, trying to hide.

Dave grabbed Bakura's school bag and scattered its contents all over the ground. Books and pens and pencils went flying. Then he went over and checked Bakura's pockets; all he found was a gum wrapper and a paperclip. "Guess he really doesn't have any on him."

"That is what I said," Bakura said quietly. "Can I go now?"

"I do wonder if this is a girl," Hiroku said, not dropping the subject. "There's only really one way to find out, Dave."

"Heh, yeah." They both surrounded the frightened boy, one of them reaching for the clasp of his blue trousers.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Tristan stepped dramatically out from around the corner and out of the shadows. Blankey's head was down and she was growling at the two men.

"Mind your own business, punk," Hiroku, who was the self-proclaimed leader, said.

"This is my business, he's my friend. Now leave him alone before I introduce you to two more of my friends," he balled his hands into fists.

"Two more friends? I don't see anyone else here," Dave, who wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, said.

Tristan let go of Blankey's leash so that he had both hands free. Blankey went over to Bakura and stood in front of him protectively, still growling at the two men. "Meet Mr. Righty and Mr. Lefty." Tristan ran forward and caught Dave a left uppercut to his jaw. The blow itself wasn't enough to knock him out, but him flying back and hitting his head on the wall did.

Hiroku, seeing that Tristan meant business, didn't want to stick around. He picked up Dave and high-tailed it out of there. "Not worth my time," he tried to coolly say over his shoulder, but the effect was lost when he ran into a wall.

Tristan turned back to Bakura, who was now knelt on the ground, trying to pick up his things. "Here, let me help you." Tristan knelt down and soon they had all of Bakura's stuff back in his bag.

Now that Tristan was closer he could see that Bakura's eyes were blank of any emotion and he seemed almost listless, not really looking at anything. "You okay, man? You look kinda pale. Not that you don't always look pale, but you look paler than usual."

"I'm fine," Bakura said in a monotone, not looking up at the brown-haired boy.

"You haven't been in school since Monday so I'm just wondering." And it was Thursday now, so he hadn't been in school for three days. Come to think of it, it was kinda strange that Bakura was wearing his uniform even though he hadn't been at school. Although Yugi sometimes wore his uniform on the weekends so maybe it wasn't so weird.

Tristan also saw that Bakura looked thin, since he was one of the only boys he knew who buttoned up his uniform the way it was supposed to be, Tristan could see that he looked thinner than he had before. "When was the last time you ate?" he couldn't help asking.

"Um, Tuesday morning, I think," Bakura said with his eyes downcast.

"Geeze man, that's nearly three days. If you don't eat you're gonna die. Is something wrong?" There definitely seemed to be something the matter.

"Um, nothing, I just wasn't hungry is all." The way Bakura kept avoiding looking at Tristan made him think even more that something was wrong.

"Well, how about we go to my house and get you something to eat, okay?" Tristan took a step in the direction of his house. Bakura didn't move, just stood, staring blankly at nothing. "Come on, man." Tristan gently took hold of Bakura's arm and tugged him along.

Blankey came up behind Bakura and nudged him in the back with her nose. He startled a little when her wet tongue licked his hand. "Oh, dog." He acted like it was the first time he had noticed her, and maybe it was.

He reached down and patted her on the head. When she wagged her tail happily he dug both hands into her black and brown fur, giving her a rub. "Good doggy. What breed is he?"

"Actually Blankey's a girl, and she's a German Shepherd."

"Ah, a herding dog." He continued petting her, seemingly mesmerized by her. "Good doggy, good girl." Blankey barked happily again, her tail thumping against Tristan's leg.

"If you pet her so much she's gonna get spoiled rotten. If she had her way she'd get petted all day long." Tristan laughed. He loved his dog, but she could be a little annoying at times. "Come on now, let's get going."

Once at his house Tristan starting pulling things out of the Frig. "Let's see, we've got pizza, some Chinese food, ooh, and cake. It was my mom's birthday yesterday and we have left-over cake." He set the items on the table.

Bakura had sat down at the table but didn't look interested in the food. He had his arms crossed on the table and his chin rested on them. Blankey was under the table, her tail on his feet. "Here, let me microwave the pizza, you like pizza, right?" He zapped it for a minute and set in down in front of Bakura.

Bakura didn't even look at it. "Come on, Bakura, you need to eat." He picked up a slice and put it in front of the white-haired boy's moth. Nothing.

Tristan's mother came into the kitchen. "Oh, hello there, I've never met you before." Tristan had only ever had Joey, Yugi, or Téa over and his mother had never seen Bakura before. "What a cute boy. He is a boy, right?" Other than Téa, Tristan had never had a girl over.

"Yes, Mom, Bakura is a boy. He just about got robbed and I saved him. He's really not very responsive right now and won't eat. He says he hasn't eaten in three days." Tristan finally got Bakura to take the pizza in his mouth and he took a bite, and promptly spat it back out.

"Oh my, that's horrible! Here, let me try." She got a fork and cut off a small piece of pizza. "Come now, you need to eat, young man." Bakura didn't take the food.

"Maybe he just doesn't like pizza?" Tristan suggested. "Maybe we should try some cake." He offered Bakura some cake, but he wouldn't take it. "Come on, it's strawberry."

After a few frustrated minutes of getting nowhere, Tristan took more drastic measures. "That's it. You are going to eat." He held Bakura's mouth open by force. "Mom, put something in there." His mother was a little shocked by his sudden forcefulness, but she complied and put a forkful of cake in Bakura's open mouth.

"Now chew and swollen it," Tristan ordered. Bakura did as he was told. "Good." Tristan gave him another forkful. Bakura kept eating them and soon Tristan had fed him the entire slice.

"It's good that you got him to eat something, Tristan dear, but he really should have something more than sugar." Tristan's mother offered him the piece of pizza he had taken a bite out of.

This time he took it. And he ate it, or more like devoured it. He had soon polished off all of the left-over pizza and was looking for something else to eat. Tristan got him the Chinese food and he ate that too. He kept eating so Tristan kept feeding him. "I'm glad that you are willing to eat now, but don't you think you've had enough? You're going to make yourself sick if you eat anymore."

"Okay," Bakura said softy as he finished his third banana.

Tristan's mother had left to do something else after she saw that Bakura was eating and the two were alone again. "Do you want to stay the night? It's already late and it might not be safe for you to walk home by yourself." Tristan knew that Bakura lived by himself in an apartment building. He couldn't image living all by himself. It would get so very lonely. He had his parents and Blankey so he wasn't alone, but poor Bakura, all by himself. Tristan felt himself feeling sorry for the shy boy.

"Okay," was all Bakura said, still avoiding looking directly at Tristan.

Tristan went down the hall to tell his mom that Bakura was staying over. "Okay, Tristan, there's a futon in the closet down the hall. Do you think he'd like a bath?"

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Maybe a soak would help Bakura feel better. Tristan went to start the bath.

When he went to find Bakura and tell him about it, he found him sitting in the living room, having a play fight with Blankey. He had her ears held gently in his hands and she had a paw on his chest. "Good girl, do you know any tricks?"

"I've got a bath set up in the bathroom if you want to take one." He saw that Bakura was smiling faintly now; he really seemed to like Blankey. Tristan was glad that he looked happier than he had before.

"Sure," Bakura stood up. His smile faded a little when he wasn't playing with the dog anymore.

"I've got an extra pair of pajamas that you can change into when you're done."

"Okay." Bakura went into the bathroom, reluctantly leaving Blankey outside. She sat outside, waiting for him to come back out.

Tristan went to his room to set up a bed on the floor for Bakura. He found that his mother had already set one up with pillows and everything. Seeing that that was already done, he went to find the pajamas. He found them and changed into one of the pairs and kept the other one for Bakura. He stayed in his room for a while, waiting for Bakura to come back from his bath. He thought about what might have happened to Bakura to make him not eat for three days and be so out of it.

A thought nagged at the back of his head that he didn't want to admit to having. What if, with Bakura's pretty face, someone had taken advantage of him, molested or raped him or something. It did make sense, but he didn't want to believe it. He was really curious now but felt that it wasn't his business to pry.

It was a good half hour before anything else happened. Tristan hoped that Bakura was feeling better now that he was in the hot water. He was about to go get himself a drink of water when Blankey come into his room, whining and looking worried. "What is it, girl?"

She barked and headed back to the bathroom. Tristan, curious, followed her. He knocked on the bathroom door. There was no reply. He knocked again, still nothing. Finally he got worried and opened the door. He gasped; Bakura, dripping wet and naked from being in the bath, was sprawled out on the floor, blood gushing from his left wrist.

"What happened?!" Tristan rushed to his side. Bakura stirred a little, looking with dull eyes up at the taller boy. He didn't say anything; just lay his head back down.

Tristan grabbed some bandages and disinfectant and used them to clean and bandage the injured arm. He also got a towel and draped it over the boy's naked body, blushing slightly. "What happened? Did you fall or?-" His eye was caught by something shiny on the floor. He went closer and saw that it was a razor blade, a bloody razor blade. There was no way that Bakura had accidently cut himself on it.

"You cut yourself?" It was the only explanation. Bakura still didn't say anything, but silent tears were now running down his face. "What's wrong, did something happen?"

Bakura wouldn't talk so Tristan didn't push it. He pulled him to his feet and led him to the bedroom; Tristan guiding him to sit down on the futon on the floor, not sure what to do now. Bakura had cut himself; took a sharp piece of metal and actually slashed himself open. Tristan couldn't imagine ever doing that to himself. There were way too many things out there that could hurt you that he saw no reason to do it yourself.

He stared silently at the white-haired boy, what could have prompted him to do it? It must have been something horrible. "Here," he threw the pajamas down next to him and left the room, leaving Blankey, who hadn't left Bakura's side, with him so he wouldn't try to hurt himself again.

When he came back Bakura had changed into the pajamas and had his arms wrapped around Blankey's neck, still crying and whispering something too soft for Tristan to hear to her. Then he lied down, not bothering to put the covers over himself.

Tristan knelt down and pulled the blanket his mother had put on the futon over the boy. Normally his mother didn't allow Blankey to sleep in his bed, it would get fur all over it and teach her bad habits of sitting on furniture, but since Blankey seemed to be the only thing that held Bakura in check, Tristan let her sleep with him. They lay, cuddled up to each other, Blankey on occasion whining and licking Bakura. It was true that dogs could sense what you were feeling. And it was obvious that Blankey knew that Bakura was sad and was trying to comfort him.


	2. Part 2

In the middle of the night Tristan had to get up to pee. He momentarily forgot that Bakura was on the floor and narrowly avoided stepping on his face. He sighed in relief when he managed to pull his foot back just in time. Then he stood still, listening. He heard soft sobs coming from the bundle on the floor; Bakura was crying again.

Tristan crouched down by him. "Seriously, what happened?" he said into the dark.

Bakura was silent, and then, "Sometimes, it's just too hard. Too hard to keep it all locked inside and have no way of releasing it. So I released it."

Tristan didn't get it. "How does cutting yourself do anything but make you hurt more?"

"You just don't get it," Bakura's British-accented voice said in the dark, rolling over and choking back another sob.

Tristan reached down and, awkwardly, pulled Bakura to his chest, not being able to stand listening to his crying and wanting to comfort him. He still hadn't told him what had happened, but it looked like he wasn't ready to tell him just yet. "Shh, it's okay, you don't have to do it anymore." He wasn't very good at this kind of thing, but he was pretty sure that's what he was supposed to do.

Bakura didn't react at first, but slowly wrapped his thin arms around Tristan. "You just don't understand. I'm worthless, absolutely useless. I can't do anything for myself and am just a burden to everyone."

"You are not worthless, no one is worthless. Even those scumbags that tried to rob you earlier cared enough about each other to help each other after I knocked one of them out. You have friends that love and care about you, don't say such things." Tristan stroked Bakura's long white hair, which had dried since his bath.

Bakura didn't reply, just let loose with another round of sobbing, clutching tightly unto the fabric of Tristan's pajamas. Blankey whined and nudged Bakura with her nose. He finally stopped crying and fell back asleep. Tristan stood up and continued his journey to go pee.

The next morning Bakura went into the bathroom and Blankey tried to follow him. The night before Tristan had hid, and cleaned, the razor and anything else sharp in the bathroom so Bakura couldn't hurt himself again. Tristan waited outside the door, feeling like a creeper for listening to Bakura pee.

When he heard him washing his hands he quickly went back to his room so Bakura wouldn't see him out there, being a creeper. He changed into his school uniform and got his books. He lingered in his room until Bakura came back. He hadn't done anything else to himself and Tristan was relieved. He left Bakura in his room to change into his own uniform and went to the kitchen to eat breakfast.

Bakura showed up in the kitchen, now in his uniform, and trying to run a comb he had taken from Tristan's room through his tangled hair. Finally he gave up and set the comb down. They ate breakfast and then walked to school together.

The entire school day Bakura stuck to Tristan like glue. He was his constant shadow, not leaving his side whenever possible. He was at least in the same room as him the whole day. Tristan didn't complain though, with how suicidal the boy had acted the night before there was no way that he was going to leave him alone with himself.

After school Yugi rounded up his friends. "Hey, want to have a game night or something? I think that would be fun."

"Of course you woulds think it was fun, you win any game," complained Joey.

"How about we watch a movie?" suggested Tristan.

"Just as long as it isn't a superhero movie," Téa said. Tristan liked superhero movies and it seemed to be all he watched.

"Well, I've got an idea of what we can watch," Joey said, a glint in his brown eyes.

"Or a porno," Téa glared at the blonde boy. "That last movie you picked had topless women running around everywhere."

"That doesn't count as porn, Téa. It was only rated R. And it had topless men running around in it too."

"How about a comedy?" asked Yugi, trying to keep them from fighting.

"That sounds fine," Téa agreed.

"Yeah, sure," Joey agreed as well, and Tristan nodded.

"What about you, Bakura, what do you think?" Yugi asked Bakura, who was standing a ways back from the others, still a part of the group but just barely.

"Okay," was all he said. He was usually shy and quiet so the others didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Tristan had been tempted to tell the others about what had happened, but he wasn't sure he should; even he didn't know the whole story.

Once at Yugi's house Tristan and Bakura were somehow assigned the duty of making popcorn. They had been told to make a huge bowl of it and Tristan was popping the corn while Bakura salted and buttered it. "Think this is enough?" Tristan asked as he poured another bowlful into the larger bowl Bakura was working with.

Bakura didn't reply as he had just shoved a handful of popcorn in his mouth. Once he'd swallowed he said simply, "Yes."

The movie was okay, not the greatest, but okay. Joey and Yugi seemed to really be enjoying themselves, Téa looked mildly amused, but Tristan just couldn't into it. He looked down during the movie and found that sometime during it Bakura had come up beside him on the couch, pressing against him so that both of their thighs were touching. He had fallen asleep, his head resting on Tristan's arm.

Once the movie was over Joey popped the tape out of the VCR. "Hey, ya know what? We shoulds have a sleepover, right now."

"Sounds like fun, Joey, but it's a school night; we have school tomorrow and couldn't stay up late," Yugi said. "And remember to rewind that. I hate it when I have to rewind them before I can watch them."

"How about we plan on having one this Saturday night?" Téa suggested.

"Alright then, something to look forward to," Joey said, already getting excited about it, "But is it really okay for a gurl to have a sleepover with a bunch of guys?"

"I never knew that boys even had sleepovers," Téa shot back at him. "It's not like any of you are going to try anything, right?" She got a little worried when they didn't reply right away. "Right?"

"Yes, Téa, we wouldn't do anything to you, who do you think we are? We're your friends." Joey sounded slightly offended that Téa would even think of it.

"I think it could still work," Yugi said, blushing slightly. "We could just have Téa stay in another room when we're actually sleeping."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, let's do it." So they were all agreed and the sleepover was planned to happen on Saturday night at Yugi's house.

Tristan, Joey, and Bakura all walked Téa home. They were rather protective of their female friend and didn't want some creep trying to hurt her. After getting her home, Tristan and Bakura walked with Joey for a while to his apartment. They didn't go all the way though. "I don't live in the best part of town, I'll go on ahead, you guys head on home," Joey told them. And in a quieter voice, "You might want to take Bakura home, Tristan. He's not a girl, but he could still get into trouble."

Tristan nodded. He had been planning to do just that. "Do you want to come back to my place, or go to yours?" He still wanted to keep an eye on him but if he wanted to go home he'd let him. "Or, we could stop by your place and get you some more clothes and then go back to mine."

"Okay," Bakura seemed to be saying that, and only that, a lot of late.

On the way to Bakura's apartment Tristan got to thinking. Maybe while at Bakura's he could find some clue as to what had happened to him to make him go over the edge and cut himself. There was a strong possibility that whatever it was that had happened had happened there.

While Bakura was in his bedroom getting some clothes, Tristan explored the apartment for clues. He didn't find anything at first, but then saw something shiny behind the couch. He fished it out and found that it was the Millennium Ring. Tristan had thought that Bakura had gotten rid of the evil thing after the spirit inside of it had possessed him and had almost killed him and his friends playing a tabletop roleplaying game. It struck him that this might be the source of the boy's distress.

He walked over to Bakura's room, completely forgetting to knock. He opened the door to find Bakura wearing only a pair of underwear and pulling on a pair of jeans. Somehow it was more embarrassing than when he had seen him completely naked back when he had cut himself in the bathroom. Bakura let out a small "Eep" and quickly pulled the pants on.

"Sorry, I should have knocked," Tristan apologized. "But what did happen to make you, you know?" He stepped into the room, the Ring still in his hand.

"Get that thing away from me!" Bakura shouted, backing up. The backs of his legs hit the side of the bed and he fell flat on his back on it.

Tristan dropped the ancient artifact on the floor and stepped over to Bakura, sitting down on the bed next to him. Bakura sat up, hugging himself and shivering, and he was shivering for more reason than just because he was shirtless. "That thing," he motioned towards the Ring. "That thing made me do something unforgivable." Tristan didn't interrupt. Now they were getting somewhere with the story of what had happened to Bakura.

"Tuesday morning I ate breakfast, and that was the last thing I remember doing until suddenly I was standing in a dark alley, covered in blood. It wasn't my own blood, but someone else's. I'm not sure what happened, but I think he, I, killed someone!" He shuddered, holding himself tighter. "I killed someone, Tristan, killed someone! I was so upset that I ran right home and threw all the clothes I was wearing in the trash. I scrubbed and scrubbed, and I got the blood off, but I could never feel clean again after what I did. I killed someone, some innocent person who had much more right to live than me, a dirty murderer." His eyes were surprisingly dry, but blank and dull.

"That's, that's a lot to take in all at once," Tristan said. He had been way out of the ball park in his assumptions. "But I do know one thing; it wasn't your fault. It may have been your body, but you had no control over it at the time and therefore no part it in." Sure would be hard to convince a judge he was innocent though. "Plus you don't know that he killed anyone, maybe he only beat someone up."

"Oh, there was way too much blood for whoever it was to still be alive."

"Maybe there was more than one person?" Tristan was trying his best to rationalize it.

"No, Tristan. I killed someone; murdered someone coldheartedly. I don't deserve to live." He got up and walked stoically to his dresser. He pulled out a gun. Tristan couldn't fathom where he had gotten it, but there was no way he was going to let him use it.

"Killing yourself counts as murder too!" he shouted, dashing at Bakura and forcefully knocking the weapon out of his hand. Bakura went to retrieve it, but Tristan tackled him to the floor like a football player and held him down.

"Ouch! You're hurting me, Tristan!" Bakura cried out. Tristan was putting a lot of pressure on him to keep him down.

"Good. Your complaining about that proves that you still have some self-preservation left in you." Tristan got up, but still kept a grip on Bakura's shoulders. "I'll let you go if you promise not to hurt yourself anymore, okay?"

Bakura wouldn't meet his gaze. "Promise me, dammit!" Tristan shook Bakura none to gently, losing his temper.

"I'm not sure I can promise that. I can't seem to control myself. I have to know what really happened, who I killed." He slipped out of Tristan's grasp and grabbed the Millennium Ring.

He was silent for a moment, mentally communicating with the spirit. Then his face changed and he let out an evil chuckle. "So he finally comes to his senses and lets me out. Good, good, I like being out and having a body I can move about in." The spirit inside of the Ring, an ancient Egyptian thief who was more commonly known as "Yami Bakura" was now in control of Ryo Bakura's body.

He caught sight of Tristan, would was still sitting on the floor and who now looked slightly scared. "Ah, one of his little friends," he looked the brown-haired boy up and down. "Or maybe not so little, you're pretty tall."

"Let Bakura go!" Tristan demanded, standing up.

"Oh, I'm just fine with keeping little Ryo here, trapped away," he stroked the Ring.

"Who did you kill?" Tristan was just dying to know. Or more like he was really hoping that there wouldn't be any more dying.

"Some random thug in a gang that looked at me funny; said that my hair was bleached and stupid." He chuckled. "So I killed him. Was really a lot of fun. Oh the screams and all the blood, so wonderful. You should really try it sometime, quite….delightful." At the last word he stepped closer to Tristan, licking his lips. "I think I might be in the mood for some more right now. And while you haven't really done anything to really offend me, yet, I think I'll kill you." He said it so calmly that it took Tristan a moment to realize that he was serious.

"Back off, you bastard." Tristan said this, but he was the one who took a step back, afraid of the apparently insane boy. "Do you know what you did to Bakura? He was so upset about you killing someone in his body that he tried to kill himself. I can't forgive you for doing that!" He charged at Yami Bakura.

Yami Bakura took a step to the side and Tristan missed him entirely and went careening into the other wall. He managed to catch himself and didn't do any real damage to himself or the wall. "That's it!" Tristan let his temper get the better of his good sense and he started trying to pummel the white-haired boy, but kept missing. He was soon tired out, left panting for breath.

"My, my, isn't this fun? I could keep this up all night." Yami Bakura smirked. "But I won't, because I'm getting bored of it." Sometime while Tristan had been trying to get a good punch in, Yami Bakura had picked up the gun that Ryo Bakura had tried to use to shoot himself.

Tristan was trapped. He was exhausted and had no way of getting away without getting shot. He shut his eyes, thinking about his friends and family. He hoped that his parents, older sister, nephew, his friends, and Blankey would all remember him when he was gone. But nothing happened.

Tristan opened his eyes to find that Yami Bakura had dropped the gun and was clutching either side of his head. "Stop it, get out, it's my body now, you can't have it back!" he screamed. His face was contorted for a moment then reverted back to the sweet face of Ryo Bakura. He had overpowered the evil spirit and taken his body back.

Bakura yanked the Ring from around his neck before it could dig into his flesh and flung it at the wall. It left a dent and fell to the floor, but was unharmed. "I couldn't let him kill you, Tristan, I just couldn't." Now he too knew what Yami Bakura had done, who he had killed. He was relieved that it hadn't been an entirely innocent person, but a thug that had likely killed many people himself. But that still didn't make it right. He still felt horrible about it.

Bakura put a shirt on and grabbed the clothes that he planned to take with him to Tristan's. "Let's go to your house. I want to be as far away as possible from that thing," he glared daggers at the Ring.

"Couldn't we destroy it or something?" It seemed sensibly to destroy something so dangerous.

"I've tried, but it doesn't seem to be possible."


	3. Part 3

They went back over to Tristan's house. His mother was quite worried that they were back so late and hadn't told her that they were going to be over at Yugi's. Tristan apologized but didn't tell her that they had both almost got shot.

Blankey was ecstatic to see Bakura and practically bowled him over once he stepped through the door. "Whoa, down girl, tehe, that tickled!" He was getting his face thoroughly washed by her tongue.

"I'm kinda jealous that my dog seems to like you better than me." Tristan was, but he was also glad that she cheered him up. He was still trying to get a grip on the fact that Yami Bakura had made Ryo Bakura kill someone. But it really wasn't his fault; he shouldn't feel so bad about it. Though Tristan had to admit that he would probably feel pretty bad about it himself if the same thing had happened to him. But he wouldn't have taken it out by cutting himself; he probably would have gone to Joey and asked him what he would do about it. He was pretty sure that Joey hadn't actually killed anyone, but he had beat people up.

Bakura stayed at Tristan's house for the next day. Saturday night rolled around and, as planned, the five friends gathered at Yugi's house. They watched movies and played lots of games. Yugi won all of the games, except for one when he was in the bathroom and everyone played Uno without him. Tristan actually won that game.

Tristan was keeping an eye on Bakura and he seemed to be happy right now, laughing and joking along with everyone else. They were just about to choose another movie to watch when Téa looked at a clock. "Holy crap, it's 2 a.m.! I need to get to sleep!" She promptly stood up and left the room to go to Yugi's. She was staying in his room while the guys stayed in the living room.

"Now that she's gone," Joey pulled a tape out of his bag.

"We're not watching porn, Joey!" Yugi balked, blushing deeply.

"Yeah, just look at Bakura," Tristan said. Bakura was blushing even more than Yugi. He was probably the most innocent of the group.

"I am insulted that that's all you think of me. It's not porn. Just watch." He stuck the VHS in the VCR and hit play.

"Happy Kitty and Puppy's Sunny Adventure? What the hell, Joey?!" Tristan stared at the screen, somehow unable to look away. On the TV there were a cute little kitten and adorable puppy frolicking through a field of flowers and meeting different animals.

"Téa would have loved this, why did you wait for her to leave?" Yugi asked, also mesmerized by the sheer cuteness of the screen.

"Just think about it. She'd never let us live it down…watching cute animals," Joey said, running a hand through his mop of blonde hair.

After the video was over they all went to sleep. Yugi claimed the couch and the other boys slept on the floor. A few hours later Tristan was awaken by something brushing against him. He blinded into the dark and saw something white moving. It took his a second to realize that it was Bakura's hair. "What are you doing?" he whispered into the dark.

"Going to use the loo," Bakura replied, also in a whisper.

Tristan thought no more of this and rolled over, dozing off. But something kept nagging at him. While Bakura seemed fine, happy even, he couldn't be sure that he wouldn't try to hurt himself again. After all, he had seemed fine before he had done it the first time.

And so he got up and followed the white-haired boy. He stopped outside the bathroom door, listening for sounds that would prove that he was just using the bathroom. All Tristan heard was silence. He waited a little longer then knocked on the door. Nothing.

Now he was worried. He carefully opened the door and looked inside. At first he saw nothing too out of the ordinary; but the light was on in the room and his eyes weren't accustomed to the light from being in the dark. Once they adjusted he saw that Bakura was sitting on the floor, head down, and leaned against the wall. At first glance he looked fine, like he had been really tired and had just fallen asleep right then and there on the floor. But then Tristan looked closer. A pool of blood was forming on the floor, streaming from his wrist. Bakura had cut himself again; this time on the right wrist so that now he had matching marks to go with the ones he had given himself on his left wrist.

"BAKURRRRAAAA!" The scream was heard through the whole house and shop and everyone in it came running.

Bakura was rushed to the hospital. Everyone was worried and confused. Only Tristan knew the whole story; but he didn't feel like sharing right now. He wanted to know why; why someone would do such a thing.

A few days passed and Bakura was taken out of critical conditional. His body was healing; but it was like he was dead inside. He didn't respond to anything, just sat, like a vacant shell of a person. They had him in the suicide ward, on constant watch so he wouldn't try to hurt himself. And he did try; but the people at the hospital took their jobs very seriously and stopped him every time.

All his friends came to visit him, but got discouraged when he wouldn't respond. They started coming less and less as the days and weeks passed. But Tristan kept coming every day. He felt very guilty about what had happened. He had vowed to keep watch over the boy, to keep him from harm, but he had failed.

But even he was getting frustrated with Bakura's lack of response. One day he had a sudden light bulb moment and acted upon it. He went to the hospital as usual, but he didn't go alone, he brought Blankey with him. Bakura had liked her so much that Tristan thought if he brought the dog to the hospital it'd snap him out of his depressed state.

It took some convincing to get the nurses to let him bring the dog inside the hospital, but he finally got them to agree when he explained that it should really help his friend. Even so, they sent a nurse in with him to keep an eye on the dog so she'd behave.

Bakura's response was almost instant, his face lit up upon seeing the furry animal. He stroked her and she barked happily, slobbering all over his face. Bakura laughed, the first time he had in much too long.

Tristan sat down on the chair beside the bed. Bakura really did look better now. "Hey, Bakura, are you going to be okay?"

Bakura looked up, he hadn't noticed Tristan at first, being totally focused on the dog. "Oh, hello, Tristan."

It disturbed Tristan a little that he hadn't noticed him at first. He had looked so sad before he came in the room and now suddenly looked a world of change different. Did Blankey really have that much of an effect on him? Tristan stood and then knelt down by the bed, taking Bakura's small pale hand in his. "Did you hear me? Are you going to be okay?"

Bakura blushed slightly at the touch. "Yeah, I think I will. I've been doing a lot of thinking. It really wasn't my fault was it? It was all that spirit's fault." He gave a forced smile. "But, but what if that man had a family? Or his gang wants revenge on me. They might kill me, or arrest me. I don't think I could survive prison...just look at me. I'm pathetic." He put his head down, his eyes glistening with unshed tears.

Tristan stared at him. His mood had done a complete 180. He was happy one second and on the brink of crying the next. "Look at me, Bakura." When the white-haired boy didn't Tristan grabbed his chin and pulled his head up, making him meet his eyes. "You are not pathetic. Or useless, or any of that other shit you've been talking about yourself. It wasn't your fault. It was horrible, yes, but we can't change the past so there's no point in dwelling on it and hurting ourselves in the process. You need to let it go and move on. Come on, man, we all miss you and want you back."

Bakura started crying now, not being able to hold it back any longer. Tristan let go of his chin and let him pull back to hug Blankey. "You really care that much about me, Tristan?"

Tristan stood, patting Bakura on the head. "Yes."

Bakura wiped the tears from his eyes, hugging Blankey so tightly that she started to squirm in protest. "Tristan, I think I love you."

Tristan blinked. That was either him just saying that he loved him as a friend or…had he just confessed to him? He stood silently for a time, not sure how to reply. "I don't know, man. I do care about you, but I'm not sure like…that. I'm not really into guys." Tristan glanced nervously over at the nurse who had been quietly watching the whole thing. Couldn't she just go away?

Bakura turned his head away, not looking at Tristan. "It's okay," he said quietly, "You don't need to love me back."

Tristan was too flustered to say anything. No one had ever confessed to him before. Was Bakura only doing it because he had helped him, or had he really fallen for him? The brunet couldn't stand the tension in the room anymore and left, quickly walking down the hall so no one could see him blushing. Blankey wined and looked after him, torn between following her human or staying with Bakura.

Bakura looked sadly after him. It was too much to assume that he'd love him back, wasn't it? He had hoped, since Tristan seemed to care so much about him, that he felt the same way. But that didn't seem to be the case. Bakura hugged Blankey again, running his hands through her fur. Maybe he shouldn't have said that. He might have just ruined their friendship.


End file.
